IN BRIEF FRESH UGANDAN ATTACK
A REBEL group which killed 80 students and abducted 50 more in western Uganda this week has struck again, killing five more people. The Allied Democratic Forces fighters killed a man, his two children and two Ugandan soldiers in Kabarole district on Wednesday.
Earlier this week the ADF attacked a training college, apparently to carry off young men to serve in its ranks. When the students barricaded themselves into the building, the rebels set fire to it.
Locals have since reported that of the 50 or so students abducted, half have managed to escape. However the college principle has said that at least 27 are still missing. The Ugandan army has accused the commander of the military detachment guarding the school of collaborating with the rebels, and of fleeing when the attack started.
CAPE FLATS BOMBS
FOUR bomb attacks hit the Cape Flats on Wednesday in broad daylight. Two cars were damaged outside the house of Cape Town businessman Rafiq Parker, and another car damaged by another pipe bomb at an Athlone car dealership. In Rylands, a man and a woman were injured by a device planted outside the man’s shop, and a fourth bomb exploded outside an Athlone hardware store. The latter two devices may have been detonated by remote control. A fifth bomb was found unexploded under a car in Rylands. Police have offered a R500000 reward for information on the attacks leading to a conviction.
JAPANESE AID TO LESOTHO
THE Japanese government is to give Lesotho 280-million to help in increasing food production. Japanese ambassador to Lesotho and Lesotho Foreign Affairs Minister Motsoahae Thomas Thabane are to sign the grant agreement on Thursday. It is the fifth food production grant Japan has given Lesotho in the last 12 years.
INDECENT ASSAULT TO COUNTRY MUSIC
THE Banana trial saga continued on Wednesday as a former gardener of former Zimbabwean president Canaan Banana recounted how he was indecently assaulted by Banana after being made to dance to country music. The incident took place at the University of Zimbabwe, but the name of the country singer was not disclosed. Kemba Kaitano, 23, said he had been scared to resist because of the former president’s status and power. Banana, a 62-year-old Methodist minister, faces 11 charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault on various persons, all of which he denies.
Being a ‘faggot’ in homophobic Zimbabwe
COMMISSION TOLD TO PACK UP
MALAWI’S Electoral Commission chairman, High Court judge Anastanzia Msosa, has vowed that the commission would continue working in spite of Monday’s order from the President’s Office to dissolve it to pave way for new appointees to supervise the general elections next year. According to Msosa the dissolution order was unconstitutional and the President, Bakili Muluzi, had no powers to dissolve the Electoral Commission before its four-year term ended in September.
BISSAUAN REBELS SHELLED
RENEGADE troops in Guinea Bissau were shelled in their barracks in Bra by loyalist forces, while expatriates fled the capital. Around 1000 Senegalese and Guinean troops are helping President Joao Bernardo Vieira put down the rebellion, which began on Sunday, prompted by anger at the dismissal of a senior officer — who had been caught trafficking arms. The troops are now demanding Vieira’s resignation. United States, French and Portuguese aircraft were on standby Wednesday evening in Dakar to evacuate 1300 foreigners if necessary. So far, mediation attempts have failed.
TEA FUND TACTICS
FRUSTRATED Warmbaths police officers have dug into their private tea fund to install the Northern Province’s first hi-tech surveillance system in holding cells as part of an attempt to cut down on escapes. The R55000 closed circuit TV camera system will enable policemen to monitor prisoners 24-hours a day from the charge office, African Eye News Service reports. The project is the province’s first attempt to implement recommendations from the Sithole commission of inquiry. The commission attempted to outline the reasons for repeated escapes and suggested a series of physical upgrades to police stations to better equip them for holding prisoners.
SIX ARRESTED FOR GENOCIDE
THE International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda announced on Wednesday that it has arrested six people in connection with the 1994 genocide, in which more than 500,000 people were killed over a three-month period. Emmanuel Bagambiki, formerly the prefect of Cyangugu town, has been indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The others, arrested provosionally, are: Mathieu Ngirumpaste, formerly a leading foreign ministry official and president of Rwanda’s then-ruling party, the MRND; Edouard Karamera, former party vice president and interior minister of the interim government; Joseph Nziorera, former president of Rwanda’s National Assembly; Juvenal Kajelijeli, former mayor of the town of Murkingo; and Omar Serushago, a leader of the interahamwe militia that carried out much of the killing. The tribunal has already indicted 35 people, 24 of whom are now in custody at Arusha.
14 KILLED IN BURUNDI
BURUNDI’S Tutsi-dominated army killed 13 Hutu rebels with a loss of one soldier in a battle in southern Burundi over the weekend, according to the army. The clash occurred in Makamba province, 120km south of capital Bujumbura. The insurgency began in 1993, after Tutsi soldiers assassinated Melchoir Ndadaye, Burundi’s first elected president, and a Hutu. A round of peace talks was scheduled for northern Tanzanian town Arusha this week, mediated by former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. Current Burundian President Pierre Buyoya, who overthrew a Hutu-Tutsi coalition government in July 1996, is expected to take part.
DEADLY FENCE OPENS UP
BOSTWANA has announced it will dismantle 30km of an killer electric fence on the Namibia-Botswana border between the Northern Buffalo and Kwando rivers. The fence has entangled and killed migrating game, including buffalo, elephant, giraffe and kudu. Namibia began a probe into the fence’s effects last year, raising the matter with Botswana. Botswana’s Director of Animal Health and Production, Dr MV Raborokgwe, is quoted by The Namibian as having ordered the Ngamiland cordon fence’s removal. The two countries are agreed that only game, and not cattle, will be permitted free movement.
‘DUARTE INVOLVED IN COVER-UP’
FORMER Gauteng safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte was involved in a conspiracy intended to cover up her having an accident in a government car last year as an unlicensed driver, it was alleged on Tuesday to the Moerane commission of inquiry into Duarte’s actions and former department. Edmund Wessels, advocate for departmental official Theo Burgers, said Duarte’s complicity was clear from the phone call she received from Mkhabela Sibeko on the night of February 4. Earlier that evening, Sibeko and media officer Mbulelo Musi had persuaded transport officer Lerato Maruping to sign a memo exonerating Duarte.
GUARDS ROBBED IN KATHLEHONG HEIST
MORE THAN 20 armed men robbed Fidelity Guards of a handgun and an undisclosed amount of cash in a heist at Kathlehong on the East rand on Wednesday morning, police said. Larbertus van den Berg, 18, and Theo Motoung, 22, were held up by two robbers when they stopped at a shop to collect money at 10am. Van den Berg sped off in the van, firing shots at the two robbers. A Fidelity Guards back-up vehicle was ambushed by about 20 more robbers, wounding a passenger in the upper arm. The driver of the vehicle, Frans Matthysen returned fire, but the robbers fled on foot. The passenger was admitted to hospital in a stable condition.
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